The Tenth of May
by RenaRoo
Summary: It's the same every time. But this time Barbara has a plan. She hopes, unlike the others, it isn't doomed to break her heart like all the times before.


ephemeraltea prompted: it's an AU, but- Babs/Dinah. "Every ten years, she shows back up with new memories. Every ten years, she save hundreds of lives. Every ten years, she dies. And every ten years, I can't help falling in love with her,"

omg I'm so terrible with romance. I AM SO SORRY I TRIED HARD

Birds of Prey and related properties © DC Comics  
story © RenaRoo

 **The Tenth of May**

The fury in Canary's eyes are unlike anything Oracle has ever encountered. It is true rage and betrayal and _hurt_ like she can't believe.

It's almost worth it on the Tenth of May.

"I don't know if you're the most cold and unfeeling person who has ever come into my life," Dinah says, her body quivering in her rage, "or if you're simply the most manipulative and possessive. I don't know which is worse anymore. I don't know if I care to ever find out which it is."

Almost worth it.

"You can't leave," Barbara says flatly. "I'm under lockdown. I won't let you."

"And I'm telling you that I don't need your permission." Canary turns and begins to exit. "Goodbye, Oracle."

The Canary Cry screeches through Kord Tower, the doors flinging away from its mere force.

Barbara puts her head in her hands and allows the emotion she has suppressed to run free. She doesn't have a choice.

It will be a long time before she sees Canary again. After losing her again.

The clock on the wall ticks away.

* * *

This time was supposed to be different. (They always are meant to be different).

Their meeting this time around was completely unexpected. Barbara had almost stopped searching.

She reaches for the fresh produce and turns to almost get branded in the face by a shopping cart. The shopping cart's driver backed off with almost too much gusto.

"I'm so, so sorry!"

Blowing the stray hairs out of her face, Barbara sighs and turns to face yet another clueless dolt who doesn't look out for handicapped patrons. "It's alright, no harm… done…"

She stares into the face of the bravest woman she has never met.

The blonde smiles and reaches out her hand. "Sorry about that. I'm Dinah."

The "I know" is on her tongue as Babs numbly reaches forward and accepts the shake.

She wants to cry and hug her dearest friend again. She wants to scream and tell her to run.

Neither happens.

* * *

At sixteen, Batgirl has taken to the streets with grace and enthusiasm that the original Dynamic Duo lacks. And she loves what she does - she loves flying across the backdrop of a cool Gotham night.

But she loves when the Justice Society's own starlet - the second Black Canary under the mantle - comes to mentor her. To aid her as two of the superheroes who can qualify as kickass ladies as well.

But there is something more between them. Something… stronger.

And they both know it. They look too long into each other's eyes. They hold a little too tender when supporting each other after the longest of battles.

Barbara stays awake in her bed on the few nights she stays at home and looks to the ceiling unseeing - eyes swimming with thoughts of soft blonde hair and perfect lips.

Black Canary is ten years older than her, but Barbara is wise beyond her years. She knows love.

When they put an end to a threat from the nefarious Mr. Freeze, keeping the city from being wrapped in ice, Batgirl has enough courage to pull Black Canary into a kiss on the rooftop.

Canary is surprised, but grins.

At her apartment, Canary reveals herself - secret identity and all - to Barbara. It's Barbara's first time when they come together and love each other, tender and passionate all at once.

"The first Black Canary inspired me," Barbara says as they lay together, Dinah drawing patterns on Babs' stomach. "I wish there was more known about her."

Dinah nods - her black hair (Barbara can't believe it's a wig) bouncing. "Me too, BG. Me too."

Canary dies at the end of the week.

* * *

The next time Barbara runs into Dinah, they are the same age. It begins with Barbara slapping a woman who has never met her before.

She's in the chair, from the same incident that took her true love from her.

Things begin to make sense when another known personality in the hero community steps in.

* * *

"To your left, Canary," Oracle says over the comm system.

Dinah's smart remarks begin ringing off, but Barbara is hardly giving them notice. She's smiling, complacent for the moment.

This status quo - even if Barbara is now ten years Dinah's senior - is comforting beyond words.

She looks to the calendar that is never closed out on her computer screen. Looks at the clock counting down to the Tenth of May.

She wonders if three months is enough to devise a way to prevent her worst fear from occurring again.

* * *

"What's that counting down to?" Dinah asks, brow raised.

She is freshly out of the shower, her hair dripping precariously close to the expensive equipment Babs would prefer to keep safe from it.

Barbara thinks idly about how she misses Dinah keeping her natural hair color instead of dying.

"One of my other cases," Barbara insists. "Don't worry, I'll tell you soon enough."

The Canary narrows her eyes and frowns. She's suspicious.

Barbara can't blame her for being.

* * *

She's in the crowd the day the first Black Canary saves the rest of the world along with the Justice Society of America. She watches, enraptured, by the power and beauty of the team's amazing Black Canary.

Babs is six years old when Black Canary scoops her up and races to save her from the cataclysmic "Void" that destroyed half of Gotham that day. And she watches her hero literally vaporize before her eyes - caught in the void itself and slowly erasing from existence.

She couldn't sleep without nightmares again until nearly a decade later - when the new Black Canary arrives and Batgirl takes her first nighttime run across Gotham's rooftops.

* * *

"There are many worlds. All similar in many ways. All different in a lot more."

Rip Hunter is a known Chrono Expert. Barbara trusts him because she trusts that Ted Kord wouldn't reveal her predicament and feelings to an otherwise stranger without the utmost confidence in him.

She just wishes what he had to say made more sense.

"Twenty years ago - when the first Black Canary and the rest of the Justice Society - helped save people from the Void, several died. Some were left with side effects of immense Chrono Signature exposure."

"The Void was time attempting to correct itself?" Babs presses, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Time and dimensional space," Rip continues. "They're very much interlinked. And when Canary was absorbed by the Chono Stream… she somehow became looped."

"She repeats her life once every ten years," Barbara realizes slowly. "That's… that's why she hates technology. It's never the same as her previous life."

"It's not her fault, and it can't be stopped," he reiterates. "And you're somehow effected too. She's… _linked_ to you. Somehow."

Barbara's eyes light up at the prospect. "I keep her grounded to the time stream? I could somehow stop her from dying again."

Rip frowns. "I doubt it."

But it's worth a try.

* * *

"Rings are a sign of eternity - they're endless. That's why it's a circle. It's forever," Dinah says, smile bright.

Barbara feels her heart catch. This time is _so much different._ It feels _permanent._

But Barbara is thirty-six. Dinah is still twenty-six.

"It's a huge commitment," Dinah jokes. "You ready for it?"

"Yes," Babs whispers. Dinah puts the ring on.

* * *

"You can't leave!" Barbara screams. "You _will_ die! You will leave me alone again!"

Dinah whirls around, eyes furious. "What do you mean?"

Barbara rubs her ring nervously, eyes watery, and she explains. In detail. Her experiences, what Rip Hunter explained. What she's seen with Dinah this time around. It has to be different, she tries to stress that.

Dinah doesn't accept the warning.

"I don't know if you're the most cold and unfeeling person who has ever come into my life," Dinah says, her body quivering in her rage, "or if you're simply the most manipulative and possessive. I don't know which is worse anymore. I don't know if I care to ever find out which it is."

Barbara argues, but it's white noise even to her own ears. Her heart is pounding and it's all over before she can truly grasp what is happening.

Like all the times before, she loses the one thing she thinks she can't bear to lose again.

* * *

It's ten years. Barbara is forty-six.

Oracle refuses to leave her tower, refuses to show her face to the new Black Canary under her wing.

The faceless voice.

It doesn't make it hurt any less when the Tenth of May comes around.

* * *

Batman - the fifth one now - is there only for a brief information drop. Barbara - Oracle - wraps her hands around her coffee and waits with aged wisdom.

He brings back the newest Gotham vigilante, as promised.

Dinah is twenty-six. Wearing a wig this time around, it makes Barbara nostalgic.

The young girl's eyes are wide and mouth is open in shock.

"I didn't know… You're… Wow. You're Oracle."

Babs smiles softly. "I am," she replies. "Weren't expecting an old woman?"

"You're not old," Dinah snorts.

"I'm old enough," she promises as she rubs her ring. "I've waited a long time to see you, Black Canary. I hope you're ready."

Dinah grins. "I am."


End file.
